REPOST: Re: Legal Scenario: Slytherin!Rowling vs. the Fanfic Author

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "ER <ression at h...>"
<ression at h...> wrote:
>...edited..
> 
> I'm still puzzled about who has rights over what. To me, anything 
> that anybody writes that uses (say) Hermione in her Hogwarts-form 
> should belong to JK. ...edited...

bboy_mn:
Let's try it this way and see if it helps. If I write a fan fiction
story that uses Harry/Ron/Hermione/Weasley brothers/Arthur&Molly/etc;
I OWN THAT STORY, but Rowling own the characters.

If I try to commercialize on my story, I own JKR money for the use of
her characters. 

If she tries to commercialize on my story, the she own me money for my
story.

I own the story because that is a unique works of art that I created.

She owns the charaters because, obviously, they are unique works of
art that she created.

So if she steals my story, it is my story that I would sue her for.

The court ruling on the case may adjust my damages award by what they
consider fair value of the use of her characters. But, since I didn't
commercialize or try to make many money off her characters, her
damages would be very limited.

In a sense, Copyright laws are civil theft laws. They prevent other
people from stealing an artist's work. Stealing implies that the
person stealing act for some personal gain, or act in a way that
deprives the original artist of some personal gain.

Fan Fiction is not-for-profit, in fact, it's not even 'break even'.
Most personal or archive FanFic sigthts lose money because of the
expense of running the sight; paying for the hosting, paying for the
bandwidth. And mostly they are run by volunteers. So JKR is more than
invited to take her fair share of the money WE LOSE. 

The obvious point is that FanFic doesn't steal anything from the
original artist; it doesn't deprive her of anything.

When you look at a store putting a Harry Potter poster in the window,
or having a Harry Potter theme, that is an obvious attempt at making
money, even though, the money doesn't come directly from the use of
the HP references. That's a copyright violation.

Again, FanFic operates at a lose, doesn't deprive or divert the
original author's sources of income, and therefore in my book, is not
a copyright violation. Also, despite being published on the Internet,
it exists for Private Use. It is distributed in limited forums of like
minded individuals for their private personal use.

Of course..... that's just my opinion.

bboy_mn